THE BATTLE OF BARCELONA
A battle between U.S. officials and China’s Huawei is being played out in the city of Barcelona in Spain. Hailing from Washington, an American delegation has been sent to the city’s grand event, the Mobile World Congress. Attracting over 100,000 professionals from the telecommunications industry, this event is the biggest of its kind and one of the largest annual events for the Chinese telecom giant Huawei.
Present at the Mobile Congress are representatives from the Department of Defence, Department of Commerce, and the Department of State — all coordinating a huge lobbying push on the United States’ European allies. They hope to convince the participants of the Congress to dismiss Huawei’s leading 5G communications technology due to security concerns.
Dubbed the “Battle of Barcelona,” Huawei is not giving up without a fight in this showdown. The company has stated that the United State’s attack is politically motivated and that there is no evidence to suggest that the company spied or conducted cyber attacks on behalf of the Chinese government. The company also asserts that spying on people would destroy customers’ trust and consequently ruin the business. Anticipating pushback from the largest economy in the world, Huawei has markedly stepped up its rhetoric, using a more aggressive tone. Its founder has accepted a series of media interviews, saying that the…
